First of all I agree with the decline of the video industry which started more then a decade ago. I kinda "hope" but am not sure if we are near the breaking point. I have no insight into the video industries working conditions personally but of course various articles stand out. I think if things are getting "really bad" then the various integral components will correct the situation themselves. While various game artists are considered "mass material" it involves a good education, specialization and skill...none of which comes cheap. In fact the people providing all the things on which video games are created these days are not "forced" to continue doing what they do. Years ago many people picked up game development because it was a booming industry offering high sales and creative freedom. Of course this lead to competition and surviving in that sea means cutting edges everywhere be it quality, features, pushing release dates or saving dimes on your workforce.
The consumer group is partly responsible for the current conditions because of how it makes its decisions but you can only force things so far before something gives.
If working conditions become unfavorable or bad less people will continue to work in such fields which leads to more demand giving the remaining people in the departments more value which also gives em more power as to "how" they continue to work. Companies handling lesser quality try to gloss that factor over with more shine but eventually we the consumers decide how far they can go. If all we get is nice pictures or movies and less games and we continue to buy and support that development then we are to blame.
You can live off on fast food and get "great value for your money" or so you think until you realize you develop health problems based on your food decisions and start to make changes. Suddenly you are willing to spend more on less to make sure you get whats good for you. Its never easy due to the sheer amount of supply be it in food diet or gaming products.
About the PTSD of the artists and the various reactions on this thread. I can understand how this can sound ridiculous but at the same time wonder if any of you have given this deeper thought. You seem to neglect freedom of choice on which you all base your reactions. You view something you dont like or that disturbs you and you stop watching it. You play one of those "sick" games that offend you and your feelings and you stop playing it. There are thousands of factors that can result in traumatic experiences, all highly individual. The difference is that you walk away and forget or compensate your experience while people who suffer from PTSD dont have that choice
So certain people are continously bombarded with traumatic impressions and now human resistence comes into play. Some people cope or adapt or evolve a "thicker hide". Coping mechanisms are not about "accepting" but usually distorting values or views in order to manage. Many educations that involve traumatic working conditions (grave digger, butcher, doctor etc) include a period of transition in which people are gradually put closer and closer to the traumatic factors. A whole lot of people wash out during that transition time and only the ones who manage to develop successful coping mechanisms remain. Now try to imagine what would happen to the folks who decide to stop doing whatever they attempted because they dont have "the stomach" for it but are denied that choice and are forced to continue.
If any of you have gone through traumatic experiences intact then congrats to you. But you should know how hard it was and you being able to cope makes you the exception rather then the norm. Also conditions might not be identical.
Can you imagine seeing images or performing actions that are highly offensive and traumatic to you on a daily basis, going home deeply disturbed and trying to sleep or rest knowing that tommorow you have to go back and do it all over again? It doesnt get easier for you, you just become more stressful and even tho the average human has a fantastic resistence to stress eventually everybody reaches his breaking point.
I have always wondered how realistic and gory Mortal Kombat animations were. I can only imagine how traumatic any of the finishing moves must be to a 8 year old watching his parent play. Some of them even disturb me due to their realistic display but I cope with a variety of things. Its a video game, its not real, its just pixels, nobody got hurt. I just de-personalize it to a degree that allows me to consume it without risk of my own mental health.
Some of you make fun of the artists who created these images. These people dont have a sick imagination or created these things themselves. All the gore, some of the animations and the effects are mostly based on real life data and records. And watching those in order to "get that realistic touch" expose the artists to true human atrocities on a mind-bending scale....constantly....every day...forcing them to go back to "improve" their work. Try to imagine going home after 8+ hours of consuming stomach-turning material either to your single life or to a family that you dont want to stress with your work. In case of a family you are not even allowed time for yourself to cope with whatever you go through. Instead you are expected to perform as a spouse or parent so the first time you are allowed to begin develop coping mechanisms is when you go to sleep. But sleep doesnt come easily or not at all. Instead your wakeful mind loops all the things you experienced often intensifying the experience itself. And the next day, after an unrestful night you go back in to your dreaded work doing it all over again. This is where PTSD comes from.
No doubt some people working under such conditions will manage eventually but at the same time some will not. If you want to make fun of those who cannot cope thats your decision but I really question if any of you have gone through similar conditions in order to discard such things out of hand or mock them.
It seems like most people have a rather simplistic view on "crunch time" because its so common these days and easily used to trigger an image without providing the dramatic conditions and pretty much everybody (me included) has done overtime. While crunch technically is overtime its also far more then it. More extreme, more demanding and longer lasting often without any form of compensation. And while we all know how overtime feels and I doubt very much any of you liked it one bit imagine your boss telling you "oh by the way, you are taking the graveyard shift permanently from now on, I also increased your workload from 8 to 14 hours and I will not pay you for the 6 extra hours and you wont get any extra breaks - cheers" see how long you ll last before you throw the towel.
Combine such a working place with traumatic material that you have to go through. Do I need to say more?
I was ready to disregard the reported PTSD myself as being "a bit much" but then some of the comments here gave me pause and made me think a little more about it (even checking the term andwhatnot) and I realized how wrong I was due to a sheltered life and inexperience.
I was in the army but never sent to war. Can I really claim the military being "no big deal" even tho I didnt even began to scratch at its surface? I have no kids so whenever I was in a job that made me unhappy I changed it even if it meant earning less. Can I even begin to compare myself to people who have 2 kids and paying off a mortgage who dont have that choice?
Things are not as simple as we see them most of the time. Pretty much everything in life started out with a simple idea but now, years, decades and millenias later is anything but. This counts for EVERYTHING no exceptions.
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